The discussion was heated. This is not surprising between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Éric Zemmour. The two candidates for the presidential elections next April debated on the programme “Face à Baba”, broadcast on C8 on Thursday January the 27th. They talked about immigration and the great exchange and the creolisation of France, but also about the recent Zone Interdite television documentary on Islamism. The leader of the La France insoumise (LFI) party drew a strange comparison between the faceless dolls that have been causing a lot of commotion for a few days and a weapon shop.
On Sunday January the 23rd, M6 broadcast a documentary entitled “Face au danger de l’islam radical, les réponses de l’État” (Faced with the danger of radical Islam, the state’s responses). Zone Interdite focused on several cities in France such as Marseille, Trappes or even Roubaix. In this municipality in the north of France, a toy shop is said to sell “dolls without faces”. This is to respect a radical version of Islam that forbids the representation of human beings. In “Face à Baba”, Jean-Luc Mélenchon explained that he had not had time to watch this broadcast because of the “extremely gruelling” presidential election campaign. Nevertheless, the radical left candidate claimed to have seen excerpts. He was then questioned by Éric Zemmour about the “faceless dolls”. Although he “didn’t like it”, Jean-Luc Mélenchon denounced a “particularly dishonest broadcast” and judged that the camera crew “manipulated everyone to present a terrible image of Roubaix”.
“Funny shops are everywhere. There is a shop downstairs in my house”. Indeed, Jean-Luc Mélenchon pointed out that “near the Gare de l’Est” in Paris … there is “a weapon shop”. “There are swords, masses of weapons … I did not deduce from this that the whole street or the whole city is made up of people ready to kill each other.” The MP then pointed his finger at his opponent on the Face à Baba stage: “You are shown a distorted image and that’s it, you believe in it, you no longer have any critical faculties.” According to Jean-Luc Mélenchon, “the real problem of Roubaix is not the faceless dolls, but the misery”.